The Essence of Sectarianism in Public Organizations: A Study in Afghanistan

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc., Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economy, Vali-e-Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran.

2 Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economy, Vali-e-Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran.

Abstract

Objective: Sectarianism in a workplace is a dysfunctional phenomenon that is disruptive in the process of organizational democracy. The purpose of this study is to discover the essence of this phenomenon in public organizations in Herat province of Afghanistan.
Methods: The research strategy was descriptive phenomenology and participants were 24 employees from 16 public organizations in Herat province of Afghanistan, selected through a typical sampling to theoretical saturation. Maxqda software was used to analyze the interviews.
Results: The findings of the study showed that the essence of sectarianism in the studied organizations include four categories of sectarian behavioral artifacts as organizing building blocks of this phenomenon: sectarian political behaviors, precedence of sectarian relationships to regulations, discrimination sectarian and leader-member sectarian exchange.
Conclusion: Organizational sectarian behaviors in the domain of research are sectarian political behaviors that are favorable for members of the sect, but to the detriment of public interests, which emerge as sectarian and gender-based discrimination. In this phenomenon, through the leader-member sectarian exchange, members of the sect are regarded by the management as in-group and the others as out-group persons, and thus the in-groups enjoy special interests over other members. For this reason, sectarian relationships are preferred over the regulations.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Afzalur Rahim, M. (2002). Toward a theory of managing organizational conflict.‎ International Journal of Conflict Management,‎ 13(3), 206-235.
Al Wekhian, J. (2015). Conflict Management Styles in the Workplace: A Study of First Generation Arab Muslim Immigrants in the United States.‎ International Journal of Business and Management,‎ 10(11), 24-42.‏
Ashforth, B.E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization.‎ Academy of Management Review,‎ 14(1), 20-39.‏
Barki, H., & Hartwick, J. (2004). Conceptualizing the construct of interpersonal conflict.‎ International Journal of Conflict Management,‎ 15(3), 216-244.‏
Beigzadeh, Y., & Mahbobkah, F. (2018).Investigating the effect of managers’ power resources on emotional commitment of employees considering the mediating role of personality characteristics on enrepreneurship. Journal of Public Administration, 10(1), 161-185. 
(in Persian)
Bergami, M., & Bagozzi, R.P. (2000). Self-categorization, affective commitment and group self-esteem as distinct aspectes of social identity in the organization. British Journal of Social Psychology, 4(4), 555-577.
Brewer, J. (1992). Sectarianism and racism, and their parallels and differences. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 15(3), 352-364.
Broad, G.M., Gonzalez, C., & Ball-Rokeach, S.J. (2014). Intergroup relations in South Los Angeles- Combining communication infrastructure and contact hypothesis approaches.‎ International Journal of Intercultural Relations,‎ 38, 47-59.‏
Butcher, D., & Clarke, M. (2002). Organizational polotics: The cornerstone for organizational democracy, Organizational Dynamics, 31(1), 35-46.
‏Cao, B., & Lin, W.Y. (2017). Revisiting the contact hypothesis: Effects of different modes of computer-mediated communication on intergroup relationships.‎ International Journal of Intercultural Relations,‎ 58, 23-30.‏
Colaizzi, P.F. (1978). Psychological research as a phenomenologist views it. In R.S., Valle & M., King (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology, New York: Oxford University Press, 48-71.
Cook, S.W. (1985). Experimenting on social issues: The case of school desegregation.‎ American Psychologist,‎ 40(4), 452-460.‏
Creswell, J.W. (2007(. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. London: Sage.
Daheshiar, H. (2012). Paradox of America in Afghanistan: Multipple identity and devidable sovereignty. Foreign Relations, 4(3), 59-86. (in Persian)
Dawes, C.T., & Fowler, J.H. (2009). Partisanship, voting, and the dopamine D2 receptor gene, The Journal of Politics, 71(3), 1157–1171.
De Dreu, C.K., Van Dierendonck, D., & Dijkstra, M.T. (2004). Conflict at work and individual well-being.‎ International Journal of Conflict Management,‎ 15(1), 6-26.
‏Dickson, D., & Hargie, O. (2006). Sectarianism in the Northern Ireland workplace. International Journal of Conflict Management, 17(1), 45-65.
Dickson, D., Hargie, O., & Nelson, S. (2004). Cross-community communication and relationships in the workplace: A case study of a large Northern Ireland organization. In O. Hargie, & D. Dickson (Eds.), Researching the Troubles: Social Science Perspectives on the Northern Ireland Conflict, Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 183-207.
Dixon, J.A., & Durrheim, K. (2003). Contact and the ecology of racial division: Some varieties of informal segregation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 1-23.
Dovidio, J.F., Gaertner, S.L., Kawakami, K., & Hodson, G. (2002). Why can’t we just get along? Interpersonal biases and interracial distrust. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(2), 88-102.
Edwards, L.M. (2010). State-building in Afghanistan: A case showing the limits?‎ International Review of the Red Cross,‎ 92(880), 967-991.‏
Ellison, C.G., Shin, H., & Leal, D.L. (2011). The contact hypothesis and attitudes toward Latinos in the United States.‎ Social Science Quarterly,‎ 92(4), 938-958.‏
‏Finlay, A. (1993). Sectarianism in the Workplace: the case of the Derry shirt industry 1868–1968.‎ Irish Journal of Sociology,‎ 3(1), 79-94.‏
Frølund Thomsen, J.P. (2012). How does intergroup contact generate ethnic tolerance? The contact hypothesis in a Scandinavian context.‎ Scandinavian Political Studies,‎ 35(2), 159-178.‏
Gaertner, S.L., Rust, M.C., Dovidio, J.F., Bachman, B.A., Anastasio, P.A. (1996). The contact hypothesis: The role of a common ingroup identity on reducing intergroup bias among majority and minority group members. In J.L. Nye, & A.M. Brower (Eds.),‎ What's social about social cognition? Research on socially shared cognition in small groups, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc, 230-260.
Geckil, T., Tikici, M. (2016). Hospital employees’ organizational democracy perceptions and its effects on organizational citizenship behaviors. Asian Pacific Journal of Health Science, 3(2), 123-136.
‏Graham, P., Walsh, D., & McCartney, G. (2012). Shipyards and sectarianism: How do mortality and deprivation compare in Glasgow and Belfast?, Public Health, 126(5), 378-385.
‏Guo, T.C., & Li, X. (2016). Positive relationship between individuality and social identity in virtual communities: Self-categorization and social identification as distinct forms of social identity.‎ Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking,‎ 19(11), 680-685.‏
Hadian, H. (2009). Structural weakness of nation-state building in Afghanistan. Strategy, 18(51), 133-152. (in Persian)
Harrison, J.S., & Freeman, R.E. (2004). Democracy in and around organizations: Is organizational democracy worth the effort?.‎ The Academy of Management Executive,‎ 18(3), 49-53.‏
Haslam, S. A., Eggins, R. A., & Reynolds, K. J. (2003). The ASPIRe model: Actualizing social and personal identity resources to enhance organizational outcomes. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 76(1), 83-113.
Hewstone, M. (2003). Panacea for prejudice.‎ Psychologist,‎ 16(7), 352-355.‏
Hewstone, M., Rubin, M., & Willis, H. (2002). Intergroup bias. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 575-604.
Hogg, M.A., & Reid, S.A. (2006). Social identity, self‐categorization, and the communication of group norms.‎ Communication Theory,‎ 16(1), 7-30.‏
Hogg, M.A., & Terry, D.I. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts.‎ Academy of Management Review,‎ 25(1), 121-140.‏
Hornsey, M.J. (2008). Social identity theory and self-categorization theory: A historical review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 204-222.
Howard, J. (2000). Social psychology of identities. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 367-393.
Imani, H., Gholipour, A., Azar, A., & Pourezzat, A.A. (2019).Identifying components of staffing system to develop administrative integrity. Journal of Public Administration, 11(2), 251-284. (in Persian)
Jahangir, K., & Hosseini, S. (2014). Government establishment at Afghanistan in framework of structuralist realism. Politic Quarterly, 44(3), 547-564. (in Persian)
Kanas, A., Scheepers, P., & Sterkens, C. (2017). Positive and negative contact and attitudes towards the religious out-group: Testing the contact hypothesis in conflict and non-conflict regions of Indonesia and the Philippines.‎ Social Science Research,‎ 63, 95-110.‏
Korostelina, K. (2014). Intergroup identity insults: A social identity theory perspective.‎ Identity,‎ 14(3), 214-229.‏
Landells, E., & Albrecht, S. L. (2013). Organizational political climate: Shared perceptions about the building and use of power bases. Human Resource Management Review, 23(4), 357–365.
Leonardelli, G.J., & Toh, S.M. (2015). Social categorization in intergroup contexts: Three kinds of self‐categorization.‎ Social and Personality Psychology Compass,‎ 9(2), 69-87.‏
Liechty, J., & Clegg, C. (2001). Moving beyond sectarianism: Religion, conflict, and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Dublin: The Columba Press.
Macrae, C. N., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2000). Social cognition: Thinking categorically about others. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 93-120.
Maghsudi, M., & Ghallehdar, S. (2011). Political participation of Afghanistan women in the new structure of power in post 11 September event. Studies of International Relations Journal, 4(17), 179-210. (in Persian)
Manoochehri, A., & Mazari, S. (2010). Afghanistan’s new constitution and democracy: A theoretical evaluation. Politic Quarterly, 39(4), 307-322. (in Persian)
McKeown, S., & Dixon, J. (2017). The “contact hypothesis”: Critical reflections and future directions.‎ Social and Personality Psychology Compass,‎ 11(1), 1-13.‏
McVeigh, R. (1995). Cherishing the children of the nation unequally: sectarianism in Ireland. In P. Clancy, S. Drudy, K. Lynch, and L. O’Dowd (Eds.), Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives, Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 620-52.
Mohammdi, H., Alvani, S.M., Memarzadehtehran, G., & Hamidi, N. (2016).Designing and developing Iran administrative system effectiveness model. Journal of Public Administration, 8(4), 591-616. (in Persian)
Mozes, M., Josman, Z., & Yaniv, E. (2011). Corporate social responsibility organizational identification and motivation.‎ Social Responsibility Journal,‎ 7(2), 310-325.‏
Nielsen, I., & Smyth, R. (2011). The contact hypothesis in urban china: the perspective of minority-status migrant workers.‎ Journal of Urban Affairs,‎ 33(4), 469-481.‏
Onorato, R.S., & Turner, J.C. (2004). Fluidity in the self‐concept: the shift from personal to social identity.‎ European Journal of Social Psychology,‎ 34(3), 257-278.‏
Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., Cairns, E., & Voci, A. (2004). Effects of direct and indirect cross-group friendships on judgments of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: The mediating role of an anxiety-reduction mechanism.‎ Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,‎ 30(6), 770-786.‏
Pausch, M. (2014). Workplace democracy: From a democratic ideal to a managerial tool and back.‎ The Innovation Journal,‎ 19(1), 1-14.‏
Pearson, A.W., Ensley, M.D., & Amason, A.C. (2002). An assessment and refinement of Jehn's intragroup conflict scale.‎ International Journal of Conflict Management,‎ 13(2), 110-126.‏
Pettigrew, T.F., & Tropp, L.R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory.‎ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,‎ 90(5), 751-783.‏
Rahnavard, F., Alipour, H., Dehdar, F., & Khalili, H. (2019).The framework of government-citizen relationship in Iran: An institutional approach. Journal of Public Administration, 11(1), 27-46. (in Persian)
Roberson, L., Deich, E.A., Brief, A.P., & Block, C.J. (2003). Stereotype threat and feedback seeking in the workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(1), 176-188.
Russell, R.D. (1957). The consequences of sectarianism for social participation. Social Forces, 35(4), 331-334.
Sardarnia, K., & Hosseini, M. (2014). Social challenges of modern government establishment in Afghanistan. World Politics, 3(3), 37-63. (in Persian)
Shafiee, N., & Eqbal, A. (2009). The puzzle of democracy in Afghanistan. Political and International Researches Quarterly, 1(3), 197-222. (in Persian)
Sherman, J.W., Klein, S.B., Laskey, A., & Wyer, N.A. (1998). Intergroup bias in group judgment processes: The role of behavioral memories. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34(1), 51-65.
Simon, B., & Hastedt, C. (1999). Self-aspects as social categories: The role of personal importance and valence. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29(4), 479-487.
Sinclair, L., & Kunda, Z. (2000). Motivated stereotyping of women: She’s fine if she praised me but incompetent if she criticized me. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(11), 1329-1342.
Stangor, C., Lynch, L., Duan, C., & Glass, B. (1992). Categorization of individuals on the basis of multiple social features. Journal of Personality ans Social Psychology, 62(2), 207-218.
Tavassoli, G. (2009). The theories of sociology. Tehran: Samt. (in Persian)
‏Teng, C. I. (2017). Impact of avatar identification on online gamer loyalty: Perspectives of social identity and social capital theories.‎ International Journal of Information Management,‎ 37(6), 601-610.‏
Voci, A., & Hewstone, M. (2003). Intergroup contact and prejudice toward immigrants in Italy: The mediational role of anxiety and the moderational role of group salience.‎ Group Processes & Intergroup Relations,‎ 6(1), 37-54.‏
Ward, C., & Masgoret, A.M. (2006). An integrative model of attitudes toward immigrants.‎ International Journal of Intercultural Relations,‎ 30(6), 671-682.‏
Wyer, N.A. (2010). Selective self-categorization: Meaningful categorization and the in-group persuasion effect.‎ The Journal of Social Psychology,‎ 150(5), 452-470.‏
Yazdani, N. (2010). Organizational democracy and organization structure link: Role of strategic leadership & environmental uncertainty.‎ IBA Business Review,‎ 5(2), 51-74‏
Zhao, H., Kessel, M., & Kratzer, J. (2014). Supervisor–subordinate relationship, differentiation, and employee creativity: A self‐categorization perspective.‎ The Journal of Creative Behavior,‎ 48(3), 165-184.‏
Journal of Public Administration
Volume 11, Issue 4
2019
Pages 608-628

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics